Gary Younge (Guardian Utd): Aristide has gone, the death squads are back

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited
Dated Monday March 1

Aristide has gone, the death squads are back, and on the streets the looters rule
The man once dubbed the Haitian Mandela has left anarchy in his wake
By Gary Younge in Port-au-Prince

For the past few days the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, has been growing accustomed to a gruesome ritual. As night falls the streets empty in fear of the wrath of the chimeres - armed pro-Aristide gangs - on looting and shooting sprees. As day breaks, people emerge to see where the bodies have been left. Corpses can lie here for days until someone clears them up.
"It costs 300 Haitian dollars <£21>," said a resident, Jocelyn, as she spread disinfectant outside Christ the King secretarial college on Saturday morning, where a body had lain for two days. "I don't know who it is because they took all his money and papers."
But yesterday the sun rose to a new reality. The president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was gone, and, as word filtered out, the morning was punctuated by gunfire in the capital while others danced on the street in the rebel stronghold of Cap Haitien.
Mr Aristide leaves behind a nation riven by civil war, paralysed by social chaos and crushed by poverty. The man once hailed as the "Haitian Mandela" is now branded a dictator. The priest has become the pariah. This is the second time he has been forced to leave the country at gunpoint, but no one expects him to be returning any time soon.

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